On the way home from the WNBA game, I asked Kate if she thought Mabel Anderson's death should count toward the average of one death of a Rhode Island state legislator per year. Mabel wasn't in office, but she was last year. We decided it wouldn't count. When I finally logged on to check the news, I read that sitting Rep. Stephen Anderson had died (no web link because it's in the ProJo, and they require registration.) That is just incredibly weird. I used to have psychic-type experiences like that for a period of time, where weird bits of synchronicity happened over and over. Perhaps it is happening again. Anyway, I knew he had liver cancer, but the last report (ironically, given by Mabel Anderson, with whom he was very friendly) that I heard said that he had beaten it (although, in fairness, that report was a long while ago.) Being a fan of statistics, I wonder what the odds are, all things being equal, of two state representatives (one sitting and one who retired last year) with the last name Anderson dying within a couple of weeks of each other. Of course all things are not equal, but it's still odd.posted by Dub at 6:52 AM